Spring urged crossed-arm pliers



March :25, 1958 'w. sM'oYAK 2,827,815

SPRING URGED ICROSSED-ARM PLIERS Fil'ed Aug. 22. 1956 IN V EN TOR.

ATTORNEY United States atent SPRING URGED CROSSED-ARM PLERS William Smoyak, Fords, N. J.

Application August 22, 1956, Serial No. 605,574

Claims. (Cl. 81-417) This invention relates to pliers and more particularly directed to the provision of the novel means for normally urging the jaw ends of the plier arms to a given position (either closed or open) under spring tension so that they may be moved in the opposite direction only by overcoming that force and will return to their tensioned position upon release. In the preferred form of invention, the pliers are provided with an elongated spring member having a depending loop portion adapted to have one of the plier arms passed therethrough the free end of said spring member being extended beyond the pivot point of the jaws for engagement with the jaw end of the other plier arm.

These and other advantageous objects, which will appear from the drawings and from the description hereinafter, are accomplished by the structure of my invention, of which an embodiment is illustrated in the drawings. It will be apparent, from a consideration of said drawings and the following description, that the invention may be embodied in other forms suggested thereby, andsuch other forms as come within the scope of the appended claims are to be considered within the scope and purview of the instant invention.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a top plan view of a pair of pliers to which one form of the device of this invention is shown applied,

Fig. 2 is an end elevational view thereof, taken on line 22 of Fig. 1,

Fig. 3 is a view similar to Fig. 1 but showing the free end portion of the spring member extended beyond the pivot point of the jaws engaging the same to hold the pliers normally open as distinguished from the Fig. l arrangement wherein the spring member is utilized to normally close the pliers, and

Figs. 4, and 5 are respectively top plan and side elevational views of a further form of the invention applied to a pair of pliers.

As shown in the drawings, the invention is designed for use with pliers of any design or form; the drawings illustrate two of an infinite variety of forms of pliers to which the invention may be applied. The pliers, in

the Fig. 1 form, comprise a pair of crossed arms 10, 11 pivotally connected as at 12 and formed at one end as jaws 13, 14. An elongated spring member 17 is provided having a depending arm engaging member, such as a loop 18, adapted to be positioned on one arm, such as 11, a portion 19 of the spring member being extended beyond the pivot point 12 of the jaws so that the free end of said spring member may engage the jaw end 14 of the other arm of the pliers. Thus, the jaw members 13, 14 are normally urged together in the form of invention shown in Fig. 1. The free end 20 of the extended por- 'ice tion 19 of the spring member may be upturned, as shown in Figs. 1-3 so that, when positioned in engagement with the inner face of the jaw 14 as in the Fig. 3, the spring will normally hold the arms 10, 11 apart, with the jaw ends 13, 14 thereof open. When the free end 20 of the spring member is disposed on the outer face of the jaw member 14 (Fig. 1) it may be used as a prying tool.

In the Fig. 1 form of the invention, the spring member is provided with a second loop 22 spaced from the first mentioned loop 18 to further secure the spring member to the arm 11. If desired, the loop portion 18 may be formed to be coextensive with the spring member 17 for a good portion of the length of the arm 11 as shown in Fig. 3.

In the Fig. 4 form of the invention which is shown applied to a pair of pliers having arms 25, 26, the spring member 27 is of rectangular cross-section and may comprise a pair of leaves (28, 29) the free end of which may be positioned against the jaw end 24 of the arm 25. The pliers, in the Fig. 4 form, are provided with a pivot point 31 beyond which the free end of the spring extends. The spring arm 27, in this case, is provided with one or more depending engagement members such as the spaced loops 32, 33 to receive the arm 26 to secure the spring member thereto.

The pliers may be provided with registration means for alignment of the portion of the spring member extended beyond the pivot point of the jaws therewith. Such registration means may comprise, for example, the provision of a recess 34 on the jaw member 14 (Fig. 2) for reception of the extended portion 19 of the spring.

Having thus described my invention, What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. In a pair of pliers comprising a pair of crossed arms pivotally connected together and having jaws at one end of said arms adapted to be moved into substantial contacting relation on pivotal movement of the arms, an elongated spring member with a depending loop having one arm passed therethrough to position the spring member on said one arm, and a portion of said spring memher extended beyond the pivot point of the jaws for engagement with the jaw end of the other arm.

2. In a pair of pliers as set forth in claim 1, a second loop on said spring member spaced from the firstmentioned loop and also having said one arm passed therethrough to further secure the spring member thereto.

3. In a pair of pliers as set forth in claim 1, the free end of said extended portion of the spring member being turned-out.

4. In a pair of pliers as set forth in claim 1, said spring member comprising a pair of spring leaves.

5. In a pair of pliers as set forth in claim 1, said pliers having registration means for alignment of the portion of the spring member so extended beyond the pivot point of the jaws.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 375,712 Murray Dec. 27, 1887 486,486 Lewis Nov. 22, 1892 558,246 Wood Apr. 14, 1896 FOREIGN PATENTS 74,968 Norway Apr. 19, 1949 

